Chapter 90 - Concerning a ruse employed by Nuno Álvares to test his men’s mettle

Summary

That day Nuno Álvares reached Setúbal, planning to lodge there and spend the night in the town. However, since they were still undecided as to which side they were on, the inhabitants refused to greet him and would not even let him into the town. In the light of the intentions they showed and of this shabby welcome, he turned about and went off to spend the night in the outskirts of the town, taking up lodging there along with his troops.

Now consider how praiseworthy Nuno Álvares is for his great skill and foresight in his approach to the war that was about to begin. Surely, he deserves to be portrayed as an example to great and courageous men; indeed, there is no hero of note whom we might seek to praise, whose talents he does not in some measure share. Since he realised that he was leading certain young men who, as yet, had no experience of danger, while there were others whose intentions he knew nothing about, he decided to test what their mettle would be when confronted by their enemies. On the grounds that there were large numbers of the King of Castile's forces at that time in Santarém, and lest some of them should advance down the bank of the Tagus without his knowledge, wreaking havoc, Nuno Álvares declared that he thought it right to post his guards and scouts a league away, in the direction of the castle of Palmela. He gave the task of directing and posting these guards and scouts to a knight named Lourenço Fernandes de Beja. Nuno Álvares had a private word with him, urging him to come back at night and in a great hurry, announcing that Castilian troops were attacking him.

Lourenço Fernandes went off to position his guards and scouts. Then, when Nuno Álvares was asleep that night in his lodging, Lourenço Fernandes suddenly arrived, urging Nuno Álvares to get ready at once because Pedro [Ruiz] Sarmiento was about to attack him with 300 lances, and asserting that he had seen fires in the places where the Castilians were lodging. Nuno Álvares showed that he was very pleased at this news and ordered trumpets to be blown. All armed and at the ready, his men at once gathered around him, just as dawn was beginning to break.